Are You a Subconscious NON-Christian?

While a father and daughter are driving home from the store, she leans over to him with a look of wonder,

“Daddy, did grandma go to Heaven?” Referring to the passing of his mother just a week ago.

“Of course she did honey.” The little girl sat for a minute staring into the distance…

“Did grandma ever go to church?”

“Well, not as often as we do dear but she would go.  Remember when she came with us on Easter?”

“Yeah, but I never heard grandma talk about Jesus.  Did she ever pray to Jesus?”  He shifted awkwardly in the drivers seat while turning a corner and then cleared his throat.

“Why are you asking this sweet pea?  Grandma wasn’t as much of an avid church goer as you or I but she is your grandmother.”

“Grandma never asked Jesus into her heart did she daddy?

“Well, now you don’t know for sure but…”

“Grandma is not in Heaven is she daddy.  GRANDMA IS IN HELL.”

A little harsh?

But serious.

Is this a game to you… do you truly, I mean TRULY believe?

How serious do you take your salvation?  You either believe in God or you don’t.  You either believe in Heaven and Hell or you don’t.

Is the idea of being saved comforting to you but the REAL idea of Heaven and Hell a little to far-fetched-Disney for you?

Now ask yourself this:

If you truly believed that those who are not saved are going to Hell for eternity, would you not do all that you can to ensure their place in Heaven?

Why is it that we can so easily go on with the rest of our lives without thinking about those around us.  We are consumed with our own lives.  We fight with others in the store to get the latest toy for our child’s Christmas.

When you approach the register do you ever think:

Is this clerk saved? Is she going to go to hell?!?

Or are you in a hurry to get out of there because you are worried that she might start a conversation with you.

In fact, the thought of even talking about Jesus to someone else makes you slightly sick to your stomach.

Is that what you call Christianity?

Is Tickle-Me-Elmo your reason for being on this earth?

Have you subconsciously made it your reason for being on this earth?

What about what comes after this earth?  The real reason for your existence.

Can we really afford to waste a single second of our lives consumed by the things of this world?

Are you willing to let those around you burn in Hell because, after all, you said the prayer and have nothing to worry about?

Maybe you tell yourself that you will get around to talking to your relatives another day.

What if they don’t have another day?

Do you really believe that this Jesus mumbo-jumbo stuff is real?

When are you going to do something about it.

Who you calling a hypocrite!?!

More often than not it seems as though Christians get thrown into the hypocritical category.

In fact, that is one of the main reasons onlookers veer away from Christianity.  It has even gotten to the point where people are looking and waiting for Christians to slip up just so they can say,

“I could never get involved in the church.  Christians are just to hypocritical.”

85% of late teens and twenty-somethings perceive Christianity as hypocritical!

Why is it that Christians get blamed for hypocrisy?  Is this fair? What about the ones pointing the finger?

Lets take a look at this stereotypical view and see if we can put a finger on the spices in the recipe.

Maybe your parents drug you to church as a child and while at home they argued and bickered at each other or were possibly involved in an abusive relationship?  Maybe you are in the same class with Nancy at school, a professing believer, but yet she also has a profound reputation for sleeping around with the football team?  Or maybe you went to a church where the pastor, who appeared to be next door neighbors with Jesus Himself one day up and left and took all of the church’s money… and the secretary.

So, before we jump into this there is one thing that needs to be clarified:

Consider this:  You got invited to come to church by one of your Christian friends.  While there, you naturally observe those around you.  As you scan the crowd, you see someone who you saw at a bar last night doing un-Godly things.  Or, you see someone who was at last weeks homecoming party and at the party he was taking body shots off of one of the cheerleaders.

DO NOT be so quick to jump to conclusions.  Have you ever considered the fact that they might be just like you:  A non-Christian scoping out the church?

Roughly 80% of the non-Christian population in the age bracket of 16-29 will attend church for at least 3 months in their lives.

NOT EVERYONE WHO GOES TO CHURCH IS A CHRISTIAN

Second thought: Hypocrisy is not a Christian problem, it is a human problem.

Now I am not saying that there are not people in the Church who claim to be Christians who are really hypocrites.  That is on the contrary and I will definitely get to that point but first let us consider hypocrisy from an un-biased view.

There are two definition of a hypocrite:

1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

In other words a person who claims to believe something but in actuality DOES NOT REALLY BELIEVE what they claim and THEREFORE act oppositional.

2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

In other words, there are atheists and agnostics who say they are open-minded, tolerant, believe in racial equality and peace and think that they are politically correct.

But they are not.

They know that our culture values those things so they put them at the top of their list but the fact is that what they claim to believe does not line up with their world view.

Atheists are often hypocrites when they make universally moral statements.

An atheist does not believe in God or any supreme being and is a purely materialistic person, meaning not that they love possessions, but that their world view is shaped by science, Darwinian-Evolution, and the materials of the world.  They believe the world is a product of random chance evolution.

Those same people will also say things like, “War is immoral.  World hunger should never be. Rich people are responsible for taking care of the poor.  Strong people should never take advantage of weak people.”

These are universally moral statements. These statements presuppose that there is a supernatural being above and beyond human kind that possesses power to control such universal morality.

As an atheist if you claim that “strong people should never take advantage of weak people,” or “that a strong country should not have overthrown that weak country,” you are making a claim that is a fundamental rejection of your world view which says that you started out as a single cell molecule that multiplied upon multiplication resulting in natural selection, meaning the fittest and the strongest survive.  Or that the fit members or strongest members of your species would be the ones who would forwardly push the evolutionary chain.  Thus, we as humans are a product of the strongest defeating the weakest.  So, to say that “this large army” should not defeat “this small army” is to go against your philosophy of the strongest will survive, and also an example of the definition of hypocrisy.

DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that atheists are not capable of being moral or of making moral statements.  To be consistent with their philosophy, atheists must make moral statements that are subjective, temporal (as opposed to universal), in relation to a culture, or that are true for themselves because they are abiding by the rules of cause and effect.  They could say:

“I do not believe in lying because I do not want to reap the repercussions of my dishonesty.  I do not believe is stealing because I do not want to get caught and go to jail.”  It is immoral for murder to take place because it would destroy the fabric of this culture.”

Atheists can not make statements that “born again believers of God” claim such as, “I believe the strong should help the weak and the rich should sacrifice their wealth for the poor.”  Christians believe in a god who teaches mercy, grace and sacrifice.  They have a Biblical world view which says that whose things are good, that God has created all of humanity equally and that the world should act in accordance.  They can say that in full confidence because they believe is a world view that is shaped by scripture which teaches that mercy, grace, sacrifice, peace, and love are good things.

Third thought: Hypocrisy IS NOT someone who says they believe in something but at a given moment make a particular choice or action that does not live out what they truly believe.

In other words, they make a mistake.

There is not one person on the earth who is not a part of this category.  We all do this every day.  Consider this:

You are sitting in a restaurant looking at the menu and you see food that is healthy, will give you energy, benefit your body, and help you to live longer… and then you see things on the menu that are going to taste extremely better minus the health aspect.  You say to yourself, “I believe that I ought to choose these things that are healthy:  It will make me feel better, I will have more energy, sleep better, and look thinner in the mirror.”  BUT WE ALWAYS CHOOSE THE BURRITO! 

In that moment you are not choosing what you believe to be true but are you being hypocritical?

That is not hypocrisy.  That is humanity. That is the inability of human beings to be consistent with their beliefs.

What about the new Christian who struggles with addiction?  Because you saw her take a drink are you going to label her a hypocrite?  That is not hypocrisy.

That is weakness and that is brokenness.

Final thought:  Just because someone says they are a Christian does not always mean that they are a Christian.

Anybody can say they are anything.

I can say that I am a professional musician because I am in a band but just because I am in a band does not make me a professional musician.

The definition of a Christian is not the proclamation of the words, “I am a Christian.”  That should not be the definition of a Christian by any humans standards and that is definitely not the definition of a Christianity by the Bibles standards.

1 John 2: 15-16

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

John just said that if you love the things of the world, the love of God is not in you.  From my previous study, we have discovered that God is love.  Thus, if the love of the Father is not in you, God is not in you.

A proclaiming Christian can say whatever they want but if their loves and values are of the things of this world… GOD IS NOT IN THEM!

Just because your Christian friend says, “I want to skip class today,” your judgments should not reflect on their Christianity but on their personality at that given time.

Now, if you see your professing Christian friend continually showing up at parties shooting heroin and sleeping around with any girl that crosses his path then you might want to question his Christianity.

Where do you draw the line?  If a Christian is involved in habitual sin then they probably love the things of the world (their sins) more than they love God.  If it is a one time thing, then you should question your friend’s judgment but do not be so quick to jump on the credibility of their beliefs.

Bottom line:  not all Christians are Christians.  Christians should be judged by their lives and not wholly by their works.

Love Part II

Love is unselfish

1 Corinthians 13: The Love Chapter

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me NOTHING.

Before we continue studying 1 Corinthians let us remind ourselves what love is:

God is love.

Thus for the remainder of the reading why do you not try substituting the name of God for the word love.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.

To some it up, love is unselfish.

“For God so loved the world that He GAVE…”

Love is about giving.  It is not puffed up.  It does not envy.  It is not about seeking it’s own.

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Love lays down His life.

“So do I have to die?”

“Yet not I but Christ lives through me. I DIE DAILY.”

“Anyone who wants to come to Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

If you want to be successful in love, then die.
Die to yourself, die to your desires, die to your own will.  Lay down your life.
Love is unselfish.

Last thought: Love is unconditional.

Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God loves you whether you like it or not!
It is impossible for God not to love you because HE IS LOVE.
You can never do anything to make God love you less.
You can not do anything to make God love you more.
It is not possible for God to love you more because He is love.

Why would God cover our multitude of sins?

God loves you.

So what is love?

It is not that He has love or that He did love.

He IS love.

1 John:4 has the word love in it 21 times.

John was called the disciple whom Jesus loved. Well, he called himself that but regardless… John, through the holy spirit, was inspired to write on love. In fact, John was the one who recorded the last supper and in John 16 John recorded Jesus saying, “a new commandment I give you: Love one another.”

7)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son (doesn’t that sound familiar… John 3:16) into the world so that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (full payment) for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected (matured) in us. 13By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16We have come to know (referring to our mind) and have believed (referring to our heart) the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19We love, because He first loved us. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Let me give it to you straight: If we have misconceptions about love, and God is love, then we actually have misconceptions about God.

If God is love and we do not understand love then we do not understand God.

There are many misconceptions about love and most of them are generated from one of the most deceiving conniving places on the planet:

Hollywood.

There, we are told that we can “fall in” love AND we are even told that we can “fall out” of love.

If this is true, then we have a real problem with God. Why? Because God commands us to love.

“Well, now hold on just a minute,” you exclaim, ” there are many people that I love but that does not mean that I am IN love with them.”

Hollywood tells us that we are a slave to our feelings. If I FEEL like I am in love then I am in love.

Love is not a feeling, love is a choice.

When you make a choice to love someone, you make a choice to invest.

That is the reason why people can stay married for 50 years. They understand the true depth of love. They have a huge bank account in that area and they have been investing for years. When you love someone you invest your time, your energy and your resources.

If you say, “I am not ‘in love’ with you anymore,” that is because you made a choice to stop investing.

By the way, God chose you.

We love Him because He first loved us.

To be continued…

An Answer to the Misconception?

When asked if you are a sinner or a saint what would your response be? For most, without hesitation, “sinner” is exclaimed without barely even trying. What is wrong with this you ask? Is that not what we are supposed to say?

2 Corinthians 5: 17 says if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. In Galatians, Paul writes that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

We say, “I just do not understand. If you only knew the things that I struggle with in my flesh.”

In observing Romans, we can finally relate with Paul: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do.” We can now stop reading and put down our Bibles and say with a melancholy honesty, “That’s right. I’m such a phony pretender.”

How convenient for us to fall again into the lie of the enemy. He loves to tell us how we will never overcome our flesh; that we are stuck in our lives of never ending sin. The words in the Bible can not be true. You are just a hypocrite!

But we have stopped reading to soon. Paul finishes his conversation in Romans 7 by confessing, “As it is, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me.”

Now hold on just a minute Paul. Do you mean to tell me that I do not have to take the blame for what I actually do? I can commit wrongdoing and simply throw the blame on this so-called “sin living inside of me?” Sounds great! Pull out the Beatles, Rubber Soul, strike up a “J” and pass me a cup of that mushroom tea! It’s not actually my desires that are speaking but the little devil inside of me.

“Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God , through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (vv. 24-25) When Jesus died on the cross for our sin, we died too. When He rose from the grave to new life, we rose too. And in our death and resurrection we were set free from the law, which had condemned us to hell.

So what is it Paul? Are you or are you not a wretched man?

Referring the Paul’s verse above, the truth lies in the “want” and the “no longer.”

If I want to commit sin, I am still doing it. If, in my heart, I am divided over it – meaning part of me wants to do it and part of me does not – there is my new creation crying out to no longer sin and instead be like Jesus.

In conclusion, the problem here is found when we sin and give into the lie of the enemy who lies, “this is the real you and you can never change.”

Are you a new creation or not? This is the battle to be fought: Will we believe what God says about us or will we believe Satan’s voices telling us that God could not change who we are?

What is our offensive weapon? “The sword of the Spirit,” which is the word of God and the Holy Spirit. (Eph 6:17) So we have a choice: Will we believe our experiences or will we believe God’s word?

God said, “Be holy, because I am holy.” …And once again we, the church, hang our heads disgruntled at this unfathomable task.

NO! Does this verse say be holy in everything you do? Never commit sin again???

It says “be” …TRY… DO YOUR BEST, never stop trying to be holy for the rest of your life!

You and I both know the endless battle we will fight for the rest of our lives in this skin we do not have a choice to live in.

But we do have a choice to accept victory or defeat. God’s word has made it clear that we are victorious in Christ Jesus.

So, I challenge you to think twice the next time you are asked whether you are a sinner or a saint?

Thanks to Paul Thorson for contributing your reasoning

The Shadowlands

It might be easier to rationalize the things you do in the dark: You have motive to blame it on. While in pitch blackness you might be thrown off by a stranger’s touch because you obviously can not see who it is. Silence in the dark could be eerie, but why not? Is the dark comforting? Is it easy to judge your surroundings in the dark? Is it easy to survive in the dark?

Some do not yet have a choice.

Imagine going to an art show held in the deepest of all nights. It is so dark that you can not even see your hand in front of you. Someone asks what you think of the color contrast in the piece on the wall but you are dumb-founded in your response. Yet, people are turning out beautiful paintings in the dark all of the time.

There are even some artists who hang urinals on the walls of a gallery and call it art. How do you recognize good art from bad art in the dark, good music from bad?

How about the arguments put forth about the right to abort a baby in a mother’s womb? Is it possible for someone living in the dark to see the light of life yet to be born?

Solomon, quite possibly the wisest man who ever lived tells us, ‘Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many.’ (Ecc. 11:7-8)

As followers of Christ, we are not free from the darkness. In fact, the darkness becomes even more potent than ever before. Our days in the light are sweet but the days of darkness are many because we wake up every day in them. Our salvation does not free us from the darkness but it does give us an option. That is why John writes, ‘If we walk in the light as He is in the light…’

Someone who is still in the darkness does not have that option.

Now, for a moment lets go back to our dark room. Imagine if I took a flashlight and, without you knowing it, stuck it directly in front of your face. I then proceed to flash the light in your eyes. Would that that not annoy, shock and fluster you??? Now imagine that after being in this dark room for several hours that I decided to flip on the room’s main light switch. Would you not be disgusted by the sudden change in atmosphere? Would you cover your face and wince your eyes?

What about those who have lived in the dark for their whole lives? When we shine our lights in their faces they might be caught off guard, maybe even disgusted. That is why it is important to not always pull out the Christian flood light on our unsaved friends. Moderation is the key to the term C.S. Lewis uses to describe the world we live in, the “Shadowlands.”

It was in love I was created…

And in love is how I hope I die.

Surprisingly taught by a choir teacher in his homeland, Nutini actually learned the music biz by selling t-shirts as a roadie for Scottish pop rock group, Speedway. At the age of 17, he was already playing BBC and several UK hot spots. Releasing his new album in May of this year, “Sunny Side Up” received mixed reviews but is by far one of the most refreshing albums to be created outside of the U.S. this year. Especially from Scotland!

The Show is about to begin…

You walk in through the back of the theater to find the auditorium filled with people
People yearning for the film to begin
There is not one empty seat
There are those who are perched in the isles
Those peeking through the windows, anxious for the start

Tonight’s showing is the film’s debut
But this is no ordinary film
Tonight’s special occasion is the showing of a personal film

It is the film of your life
From start to finish
Every move you have ever made and every thought that has traveled your being

The un-rated version…
Yes, the un-rated version

Your life on display for the whole world to see

Will the audience be please when the projector shuts off?
What will they think of you when it is all over?

Will you be there for the curtain’s close to take a bow?
Or will you have quietly slipped away within the first few minutes?

Everyone will take account for their existence on this earth
Unable to hide any detail
Unable to erase any wrong-doing
Your entire life, from start to finish, every second of your existence out in the open

Where will you be when the curtains close?

Relevance to Culture is Not Optional

Ephesians 5:13-20

“ Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
Walk in Wisdom
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Historically this passage is usually used in context of focusing on drinking. More often than not, it is used to oppose drinking completely… which is not even the main focus of the passage.

Paul is not trying to give us a standard of what to do and what not to do but instead give a standard of spirituality in terms of our relationship with the creator.

He only uses wine to build his argument but that is only at the surface of what is really being said here. He is saying “do not be drunk with wine,” probably because of experience and understanding the consequences, but instead be “filled with the spirit.”

The point is that you need to walk in the life that God has created for you, being guided by His Spirit, being drenched in his presences consistently yearning for more.

Paul was telling us the solution to the entire moral dilemma of humanity.

We must avoid complacency, blandness, destructive choices, avoid hurting those we love through the good intentions that some how do not work because of were they get their fuel.

Paul was giving us the solution.

He was reminding us that we are created to live in an extraordinary transcendent relationship with the Creator of the universe, living in communion with the one who knows how the blood best flows through our veins.

We are in a constant struggle within. We know how good it feels when we succeed in our good deeds, allowing us to bring more sunshine into the world. At the same time, there is this pull within us that wants instant pleasure and it wages war on our other side.

Do not get drunk off wine. Do not put yourself in a place where you are going to wake up tomorrow and regret the nights past.

Instead strive with everything in you to seek guidance from the Spirit who is leading you to a place of unfailing success because you are finally walking in what you were created for.

After years of struggling to get away, an older couple jump at the chance to visit the beach.

As they walk along the shore, they observe people engulfed in conversation, lounging around bonfires and enjoy others joyously enthralled in beach sports. It seems to be a river of human experience.

They walk up and down the beach and approach a pier only to decide to stroll upon…

As they are walking out towards the ocean, she can not help herself from describing the scenery,

“Look at the water and the waves. Look how the moon is reflecting on the water and watch the waves as they dance upon each other.”

Her husband enjoyed every word.

To the end of the pier, she just could not stop describing the beauty of nature, exasperating on the ocean, on the moon, on the pier and how they all worked together.

He continued to enjoy her description.

As they approached the end of the pier, they grasped each other and began to swing around. They faced towards the shore and he proclaimed,

“Wow! Look at the beautiful city!”

She pushed him away in slight disgust proclaiming,

“You see, there is the difference between you and I!”

His head tilted in disbelief, unaware that he was giving the data for their differences.

She continued, “Wow, Edison didn’t waste a light bulb on you!”

So he tried to explain,

“I enjoyed it all the way out honey. It’s just that as we turned around, I also enjoyed it in this direction.”

When we are going in the direction that we like, we see the beauty of our wonder and life. If we are forced to turn around… we should not be blinded to the beauty that is also there-in the other direction. We should allow ourselves to be open minded, allow our heart and soul to see the beauty in every turn and twist.

If someone was watching your life right now, would you be a witness of single-mindedness? Or are you living your life in such a way that you are doing nothing wrong, it’s just that you are doing nothing extraordinary? Are you an entrepreneur of every angle this life has to offer?